Running in the Hood

Yesterday I was scheduled for a 30-minute run but we play soccer on Wednesday nights so I figured that would take care of it. If anyone's curious, here's my running schedule for the next few months. I talked to a buddy about training for the half-marathon and he said that his running coach recommended running for a set amount of time rather than a set distance. I have no running knowledge to speak of so I'm taking his advice.

I was short on time today so I decided to run around the neighborhood instead of heading to Greenlake. We're in a bit of a valley so there's less than a mile to run in any direction without hitting some major hills. I did three out-and-backs and felt pretty good but even the flattest route we have has a decent sized slope making the run much easier away from the house and more difficult coming back. One of these days I'm going to head to a track and run in flat circles to see how fast I can run.

Here's the map of the run:

I would like to have a more consistent pace but it's hard to run the same speed on a light incline and a light decline.

I recently read a book called Green for Life and I decided to add these green smoothies to my daily intake. On the Slow Carb Diet I stopped eating all fruits and I think green smoothies are a good way to reintroduce fruit to my life. Yesterday I made a smoothie with dinosaur kale, strawberries, bananas, and avocados. Today I made one with mangos and kale. The first one was delicious but the second one may have had too much kale and was a little bitter. I do think that these greens are full of awesome nutrients and will be great for my health.

Saturday I leave for LA and even though it's only in the 60's down there, I'm excited for something a little warmer. Hopefully I'll be able to eat well on this trip and run well and not lose everything I've gained. Holla.